Shenyang, the headquarters of the Kwantung Army of the invasion of China.

Hideki Tojo, the current commander of the Kwantung Army, had just received the telegram from the headquarters from the communications staff officer, and was reading the contents of the telegram with a calm face.

The headquarters telegraphed the abolition of the North China Front Army, and the personnel of the former North China Front Headquarters returned to China, and the remnants of the troops under their command were transferred to the Kwantung Army for unified reorganization and command.

In other words, from now on, Hideki Tojo has become the supreme commander of the invasion of China outside the Kansai area.

Putting down the telegram in his hand, Hideki Tojo's face was a little gloomy, and he did not have any joy, saying that the situation of the Empire's war against China had reached a precarious point, and the test faced by himself and the Kwantung Army would be extremely severe.

In any case, he wanted to keep the four provinces of Manchuria and Korea, an overseas treasure land, for the Great Empire, and leave a springboard for future counteroffensives, Hideki Tojo thought in his heart.

"Click-and-......" A sound of footsteps came from the corridor outside, and Hideki Tojo looked up when he heard the sound, only to see the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Hyotaro Kimura, walking in in a hurry.

"Kimura-kun, what's the matter?" Hideki Tojo asked.

"Your Excellency, Commander, according to the information obtained by the Intelligence Section of the General Staff, the Qiaojia Army of China has completed the control of most of the strategic points in Shandong, and is currently gathering troops and materials, and it is very likely that it will move its troops north to attack our Kwantung Army in a short period of time." Hyotaro Kimura bowed his head and reported.

Hideki Tojo's brows suddenly twisted into a Sichuan shape when he heard this, and he said with a calm face: "Aren't Chahar, Suiyuan, Hebei and Shanxi, and the Pingjin region all in the hands of Yan Xishan and Wei Lihuang in the second war zone of China?" If Qiao Anbang wants to go north, he must pass through the territory of the two of them, will they let Qiao Jiajun pass? ”

"What do you mean?" Hyotaro Kimura's eyes lit up.

"Let the Ministry of Intelligence find a way to get in touch with Yan Xishan and Wei Lihuang, as long as they don't let Qiao's army go north smoothly, I say that this empire is willing to support them to break away from Yucheng and establish an autonomous government axe in Shanxi and Hebei." Hideki Tojo's eyes revealed a sinister way.

Kimura Hyotaro pondered for a while, and said: "General, Wei Lihuang is a descendant of Jiang Zhi's central army, I'm afraid it is not easy to win over, but Yan Xishan, who controls hundreds of thousands of Jin Sui troops, is originally a powerful local warlord in Shanxi, I think it should be easier to win over." ”

"Well, then take Yan Xishan as a breakthrough and tell Yan Xishan that as long as he agrees to secretly cooperate with the imperial army, Shanxi, Hebei Chahar and even Suiyuan and Pingjin regions, from now on, he has the final say." Hideki Tojo.

"Hay." Kimura Hyotaro bowed his head in response, and quickly turned to leave.

…………………………………… Taiyuan, Shanxi, Yan Mansion.

As Yan Xishan's most trusted attendant adjutant, Xu Youde walked into Yan Xishan's study with a sneaky expression, and Yan Xishan, who was practicing calligraphy with great interest in the study, saw this and asked, "What's the matter with virtue?" ”

"Soza, there's a merchant named Fujiwara who wants to see you." Xu Youde replied in a low voice.

"This merchant?" A glimmer of light flashed in Yan Xishan's eyes, and he said, "Who is he?" ”

"Kwantung Army." Xu Youde only replied with three words.

Yan Xishan instantly understood, pondered for a moment, and said to Xu Youde: "Go, let him come to see me, but be careful, keep it secret." ”

"Yes." Xu Youde tacitly saluted a military salute, turned around and took the order.

About ten minutes later, Xu Youde went and returned, and came to Yan Xishan's study with a businessman about thirty years old.

Of course, before coming here, Xu Youde had already instructed the guards to conduct a careful search of this person, just in case.

After entering the study, Xu Youde introduced Yan Xishan: "The main seat, he is Fujiwara. ”

The devil named Fujiwara had a lot of eyes, and Xu Youde's voice fell, so he hurriedly bowed to Yan Xishan and said, "In Shimofuwara Saburo, I have seen Chairman Yan." ”

"Tell me, what did you do with me?" Yan Xishan looked at Fujiwara with a calm face and said coldly.

"Oh, that's right, I'm entrusted by the commander of the Kwantung Army, Commander Hideki Tojo, to come to discuss cooperation with you, Chairman Yan." Fujiwara is neither humble nor arrogant.

"Humph! Now is the time when your two armies are at war, what cooperation do I have with you? Yan Xishan's face turned turned and said, "Could it be that Hideki Tojo saw that your army was gradually becoming thin on the battlefield in China, and was about to be driven out of Chinese mainland, and wanted to ask me Yan to do acts harmful to the country and the nation for you?" ”

Fujiwara's face turned pale for a while when he heard this, and then returned to normal, and said: "Chairman Yan, you misunderstood, our Commander Tojo came to you for the sake of you and your Jin Sui Army, after all, now Qiao Anbang's Qiao Family Army is growing stronger, and it has posed a threat to all the anti-Japanese forces, including the Yucheng Political Axe Army, not long ago the Shandong Incident is a good example, and now the power of the Qiao Family Army has expanded to the whole of Shandong, and Shanxi is only a river away, and their next target is likely to be your Jin Sui Army." ”

"Oh? So what should I do? Yan Xishan looked at Fujiwara with interest and asked.

"I suggest that Yan should pay attention to strengthening the garrison of the Yellow River defense line to prevent Qiao's army from going north, if Chairman Yan is willing, we are also willing to help Chairman Yan establish the North China Autonomous Political Axe, and you will serve as the chairman of the North China Autonomous Political Axe, and provide military assistance such as weapons and ammunition for your department." Fujiwara will tell the truth in the future.

Unexpectedly, Yan Xishan was furious when he heard this, and slammed the table and scolded angrily: "Let your mother's fart!" You are asking Lao Tzu to be the traitor and thief of the great Han Dynasty, your mother, go back to Lao Tzu and tell Tojo Hideki that I, Yan Baichuan, shoulder the heavy trust of the father of the Three Jin Dynasty, and I would rather die than be the traitor of the Han Dynasty who disgraced his descendants and was scolded by the world. ”

Fujiwara's face was so frightened that his face was miserable, he never thought that Yan Xishan's attitude would become like this, you know, when the Qiqi Incident broke out, when the soldiers pointed directly at Shanxi, Yan Xishan's attitude towards Yue was very ambiguous.

Fujiwara naturally couldn't guess the heart of Yan Xishan, an old and cunning local warlord, at this time and that time, he said that he had swallowed the entire four provinces outside the Guanwai, and the hundreds of thousands of Northeast Army, which was as strong as the Feng army, withdrew without a fight, and since then has become a lost dog, and the Great Wall War of Resistance has been a complete defeat.

When it came to the 77 Incident, the soldiers of the army were even more unstoppable, first going to Pingjin, and then sweeping through North China with a great victory, all the way like a bamboo, Yan Xishan was naturally frightened, and hesitated back and forth between resistance and preservation of strength.

Later, in the first battle of Xinkou, the hundreds of thousands of troops composed of his Jin Sui army and Wei Lihuang's central army were defeated by the Banyuan Division (Fifth Division), which was known as the Gang Army of the Yue Army, and the soldiers of the Yue Army were directed at Taiyuan.

After this battle, the strength of Yan Xishan's Jin Sui army was greatly damaged, and since then, the attitude of resistance has also been mainly to preserve strength, and the army has been weak and wronged on the one hand, and passively resisted on the other, which is a historical fact, and this time and space is also the same.

But now it is different, since the Qiao family army led by Qiao Anbang in the defense of Nanjing was born, the situation of the anti-Japanese war has undergone earth-shaking changes.

A year ago, the arrogant army that had released such wild words as the destruction of China in three months is now defeated like a mountain in Chinese mainland.

As far as China is concerned, victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression is just around the corner, but the situation is precarious, and at this juncture, Yan Xishan will naturally not be so stupid as to be dragged into the water by Yue himself, pushing himself into the opposite side of national righteousness, and becoming the sinner of the nation and the country referred to by Qianfu.

As the so-called time and time, Yan Xishan knew that the only thing he could do was to follow the victory trend of the great situation of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, defeat Yue himself first, and earn more political capital and prestige.

After all, after beating away himself, the rest is the Chinese's own affairs, and there is something to discuss, just like a family brother.

Of course, Yan Xishan, this old guy is cunning, and he will not use his already not strong family background to fight hard with himself, the reason why he delayed Pingjin and did not move his troops is to wait for Qiao Anbang to finish the Central Plains battlefield, wave his troops to the north, and his Jin Sui army only needs to follow behind Qiao's army to fight the autumn wind and grab more fruits of victory.

Therefore, after bombing away Fujiwara, Yan Xishan immediately wrote a letter by hand, and ordered his cronies to send it to Qiao Anbang on the south bank of the Yellow River.

……………………………… Qingdao, Qiaojiajun headquarters.

After many days of preparation and assembly, Qiao Anbang finally completed the preparations for going north, and more than 300,000 people from the ten integrated divisions of Qiao's army were successively transferred to the south bank of the Yellow River.

As for the remaining tasks of the Qiaojia Army, the 11th to 20th Army New Divisions and a large number of militia reserve units, totaling more than 200,000 people.

In terms of armored troops, the former Zhang Xudong's Reading Armored Division was fully transferred north to prepare for use on the battlefield outside the Guanxi, and the armored regiments directly under the newly formed army divisions were transferred to form an armored corps, which was stationed in Xuzhou as a mobile strategic force in the base area in case of contingencies.

In terms of the air force, Qiao Anbang decided to transfer two flight regiments with a total of more than 500 fighters of various types to be temporarily stationed in Qingdao, leaving hundreds of fighters to stay at Qingdao, Xuzhou, and Longshan Airfield, the base camp of Qiaojiajun, to guard against the safety of the Yucheng Army in the Central Plains and the Lusu Coastal Defense Line.

In terms of the navy, because the naval fleet had just been formed, it was temporarily unable to participate in the battle out of the customs, and only remained in Qingdao Port as a left-behind force.

In the war room of the headquarters, Qiao Anbang had just reached the combat mission to the senior commanders under his command one by one, and Wang Gensheng, the commander of the guard brigade, walked in with his head held high and reported to Qiao Anbang: "General seat, Yan Xishan, commander of the second theater commander, sent someone to send a letter. ”

After speaking, he handed a letter in his hand to Qiao Anbang.

"Oh?" Qiao Anbang took the letter in surprise, opened it and looked at it, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but smile clearly, slapped the letter on the conference table, looked around the people present in high spirits and said in a deep voice: "Pass my order, the first integrated division of the army, the reading armored division, cross the river immediately!" The rest of the troops also moved as planned! ”

"Yes!" A group of senior generals of the Qiao family army got up one after another and promised in unison.

(To be continued)